THEY are young, grungy, low-paid and rent-sharing but according to research they are also ''statistically cool''.

Drawing from the latest census, social researcher Urbis has put together a list of Sydney's hippest suburbs.

The study, co-authored by trend experts Right Angle Studio, started with the demographic breakdown of two suburbs considered to be hip right now - Collingwood in Melbourne and Redfern in Sydney. Both were once riddled with drugs and characterised by high rates of violence but recently have undergone considerable gentrification and attracted a new demographic.

Hip and happening

According to Urbis, suburbs that are statistically ''hip'' have a high proportion of people between the age of 20 and 39, are not married, don't identify with a religion and have a tertiary qualification. Also the areas tend to be more ethnically diverse and have medium- to high-density living, with more group households and fewer cars.

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Kate Latella, a 24-year-old, educated individual, who doesn't have a car and rents in the high-density suburb of Chippendale, said it's the people who make a suburb like Chippendale great.

''All the uni students and the creative community are here so there is always something to do, always someone to say hi to.'' Though Mrs Latella, who studies at the University of Sydney and is a nanny two days a week in Surry Hills, said it's far too expensive to consider buying property here.

''If we were to buy it would be so far out I don't think we would,'' she said. ''We chose to rent and live somewhere great rather than buying somewhere out of the way.''

Apart from demographics, Urbis senior research manager, Mark Solonsch, says people in these suburbs are linked by their attitude. ''They're predominantly young, energetic, educated, unshackled by hefty mortgage payments and therefore much more open to innovation, new trends and trying things,'' he said.

In all of the suburbs listed, more than 56 per cent of the residents were renters.

With a slightly higher proportion of home owners, suburbs such as Enmore, St Peters and Petersham narrowly missed out on the list.

In Melbourne, Brunswick and West Melbourne were identified as hip while in Perth Highgate also made the cut.

Using the same criteria, Urbis also released to the Herald a list of the least hip suburbs in Sydney. These suburbs are dominated by families living in detached houses, who were almost all born in Australia and own their homes or are paying off a mortgage.

More than 70 per cent of people living in these suburbs have been or are married and less than a quarter of residents are in the 20- to 39-year bracket.

Mr Solonsch said ''you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone living in a group household, or without a car''.

Apart from being more religious than the inner-city suburbs, education levels are also quite different.

''Being educated is hip,'' said Mr Solonsch. ''And there is a very low level of tertiary education in these areas with less than one-fifth having completed a uni or TAFE qualification.''

From a property perspective, the APM senior economist, Andrew Wilson, said hip suburbs are originally ''cool for renting and then they become cool for buying''.

As people become alert to the benefits of the area and they start to bid it up the prices with owner occupiers competing to be part of the ''overall lifestyle choice of the community''.

These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

88 comments so far

hmmm.... I would have thought that Surry Hills falls into the "...leads to a suburb losing its cool. ''They evolve into something else,'' Dr Wilson said. ''They turn into prestige suburbs.''

The fact is that Surry Hills and many of the suburbs listed are no longer young, grungy, low-paid and rent-sharing. They were in the nineties without a doubt. A little bit in the early 2000's but in the last ten years these suburbs are now infiltrated with ex students that became well paid property owners with kids... Families, I tell you - all over the inner city!!

Commenter

ACF

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 20, 2012, 2:30PM

Thanks for letting me know where to avoid hipsters. Idiots in pastels with trousers that are too short for them and more pastels with their sock colours. I will stick to the local and my masseurs

Commenter

Franky

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 4:52PM

How many hipters does it take to change a light bulb? At least 10 to scrape enough change together to buy the light bulb in the first place.

Commenter

Doug

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 22, 2012, 4:34PM

Agree with Doug-

All the "cool-uncool" hype is for the people with inferiority complex who are desperate to identify themselves as belonging to a "successful group" in the society, but have no capabilities to achieve real success.It is just the way for bogans to fake their social status which gives them leverage to discriminate against others.

Commenter

dinkumnet

Location

dinkumnet.com

Date and time

August 25, 2012, 7:41AM

I think you have a problem with the voting. Doesn't matter how many times I keep voting I never see the results. How come Mosman isn't on the list?

Commenter

Lucas

Location

Date and time

August 20, 2012, 4:17PM

Because Mosman's not hip, obvioulsly.

Commenter

Hippest

Location

Australia

Date and time

August 20, 2012, 4:33PM

Interesting article.

lol@ "how come mozzzzman isn't on the list"

Commenter

Kikko

Location

2043

Date and time

August 20, 2012, 4:36PM

There's a huge difference between extremeley overpriced yuppyville and hipsterville

Commenter

Muppetier

Location

Date and time

August 22, 2012, 3:38PM

Thanks for letting me know which suburbs to avoid, one person's "hip" is another person's "loud, annoying, irresposible party-all-night neighbours".